Tag Archives: Policy

SA Government Nuclear Energy Propaganda with Taxpayers Money – Silencing Anti-Nuke news on SABC – Running Pro-Nuclear Meetings designed to keep communities and NGO’s out

It appears the South African government and Nuclear Industry will stop at nothing to forge ahead with their nuclear energy policy for South Africa.

This nuclear energy debacle has been going on now for over 5 years. During that time hundreds of thousands of man hours worth of valid and scientific public comment opposed to further construction of any nuclear reactors has been submitted at every stage of the processes by individuals, communities and NGO’s. That has all amounted to nothing as all those comments have been totally ignored by a government and nuclear industry whose minds were long made up before they even started. Driving this is a very small group of men who all stand to benefit financially through lucrative deals constructing and operating these reactors but the public, the taxpayers, simply do NOT want these reactors and they are being ignored.

Furthermore the nuclear industry has in recent months, using taxpayers money, run a number of conferences aimed at promoting nuclear energy. The invited speakers are all pro nuclear pundits, the function venues and catering is all paid for by taxpayers but the organisers charge fees for people to come to these meetings which prevents NGO’s attending and it designed to do exactly that. Of the few NGO’s who do manage to scrape up some cash and attend, they only spend the evening being ridiculed by speakers and an audience that is all pro nuclear from the onset. So WHY have conferences promoting nuclear energy to 99% of your audience who is already brainwashed into being pro nuke? It seems media outlets are invited free of charge to these events so that they may of course write favourable nonsense in their newspapers for the nuclear industry.

Just recently one of these conferences was held close to the Atteridgeville community, the media were invited, the nuclear spin doctors were invited, the minister of energy was invited, basically anyone pro-nuclear was invited but the community involved was only told about this the day before and the news of this only reached NGO’s merely a day or two before which once again (by design) makes planning and attending very difficult.

It now also appears that the SABC has been told to clamp down on any news which shows nuclear energy in a bad light, in other words, THE TRUTH and no doubt the men who drive this very secret little industry are extending their reach to other mainstream media too.

It’s clear that these men will stop at nothing because there is a great path to self enrichment if all these very lucrative deals come to fruition. Using taxpayers money to achieve this is nothing short of scandalous if not criminal.

Here’s an article from 2008, nothing up till now has changed except a new “branding” company has been appointed in recent months. What happened to the taxpayers money that was wasted on the previous company who achieved NOTHING?

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Energy Minister’s nukes clandestine meeting slammed as workers die

MEDIA STATEMENT
24 March 2011

The Pelindaba Working Group today slammed the clandestine manner in which the government and its nuclear industry are pushing a radioactive agenda on the South African public and in particular a workforce for whom a job could be tantamount to suicide.

The Department of Energy sent out a media invitation to attend a “public participation event on understanding Nuclear Energy” and tout for workers in the very same black township outside Pretoria where scores of former workers of the nuclear industry have died from occupational disease.

Residents who live in Atteridgeville and Sausville where the Energy Minister and others will today try to persuade residents to take up a career in the nuclear industry, were totally unaware of the planned event which was only announced late yesterday afternoon.

“We suspect this is a carefully staged event for propaganda purposes,” said Alfred Sepepe, representative of many Atteridgeville-based ex-nuclear workers for whom there has been no compensation for occupational diseases. “Whoever arrives here will have been pre-organised by them themselves as a way of pretending that people from Atteridgeville support them. We don’t. Too many of us have died from sicknesses caused by working at Pelindaba.”

Mr. Sepepe has spent the past 2 years trying to obtain a meeting with the Energy Minister who has repeatedly failed to pitch for pre-arranged meetings. He and his team have also approached President Jacob Zuma’s office, which sent him back to the Energy Minister. Late last year the Energy Minister finally sent Mr Sepepe a letter saying he should take up his issues with the Nuclear Energy Corporation of SA (NECSA) and regurgitated stock answers issued by NECSA over the issue of ill workers over several years.

About 208 ex-Necsa workers were diagnosed by medical expert Dr Murray Coombs as having the basis for claims for occupational compensation. NECSA was approached to assist them with additional medical examinations under independent supervision but refused and instead produced their own white-washed medical report refuting the workers claims.

“The irony of these workers failing to get a single meeting with the Minister and now having to attend a “participation” meeting on understanding “nuclear energy” at a time when the world over people are turning their backs on this heinous energy source is beyond conscience,” said Dominique Gilbert, coordinator of the Pelindaba Working Group.

Mr. Sepepe and members of his committee will be attending the meeting uninvited as it may be the closest the manage to get to see the Minister.

We call on the government to immediately put an end to its nuclear policy.

South Africa’s nuclear policy is undemocratic and Gazetted without so much as a Parliamentary debate.

Before South Africa turns to more nukes, there must be full disclose of the legacy of the full fuel cycle of the industry from uranium mining to radioactive waste “management”/spills/leaks/environmental hazard and a full assessment of how innocent workers and communities have been affected from the various radioactive sites in this country.

ISSUED BY:
Dominique Gilbert
Coordinator
Pelindaba Working  Group
Tel: 083-740 4676
www.cane.org.za

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Draft IRP2010 Out for Public Comment – Comment Period Closes 10 November – IT IS YOUR TIME TO TALK and say NO TO NUCLEAR !!!

Dear Stakeholder

The Draft IRP2010 has now been developed by the Department of Energy (DOE);
the National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) and the System
Operator within Eskom Holdings, in accordance with the Electricity
Regulations on New Generation Capacity, August 2009, promulgated in terms of
the Electricity Regulation Act, 2006 (Act No. 4 of 2006).  Following the
publication and broad consultations on the IRP Input Parameters in June
2010, the DOE and its counterparts have spent the past four months
conducting the requisite modeling and scenario analysis towards developing
the Draft IRP2010.   The DOE hereby publishes this Draft IRP2010 for public
consultation and comment, for a thirty (30) day period commencing 8 October
2010 and ending on 10 November 2010.

The following documents can be found on the www.doe-irp.co.za website:

1.    Draft IRP2010;

2.    Executive Summary to the Draft IRP2010;

3.    Medium Term Risk Mitigation Plan (as part of the IRP development
process an Executive Medium Term Risk Management Plan was developed to
address the short to medium terms risks of the current electricity supply
shortage. This plan aims to quantify and clarify the nature and the extent
of the short-term supply risks and provide a quantum for immediate
interventions to avoid load shedding); and

4.    A prescribed questionnaire template, which you are kindly requested to
use to submit your comments.

You are requested to note the following process going forward:

i           Your comments submitted in the format of the prescribed
questionnaire should be emailed to the DOE, Ms Angelique Kilian at
irp2010@mweb.co.za, by close of business on 10 November 2010.

ii          Public Hearings on the Draft IRP 2010 will be held in the first
week of November 2010.  You will be advised of the precise date/dates in due
course.  Should you wish to make a presentation at the Public Hearing,
kindly indicate so to Ms Angelique Kilian at irp2010@mweb.co.za by 18
October 2010 with final submission of presentations on 29 October 2010.  (No
update to presentations will be allowed during Public Hearings.)

iii         All comments once received, will be logged and duly considered
and the Draft IRP2010 revised as necessary.

iv         Given that there is a dire need to make investment decisions
against the IRP2010 this year, the intention is that the revised Draft
IRP2010 will be tabled in Cabinet for approval prior to being published in
the Government Gazette by the Minister of Energy by the end of this year,
for implementation, in accordance with the Electricity Regulations on New
Generation Capacity.

Should you battle to download any of the documentation, please do not
hesitate to contact me.

The DOE wishes to thank you for your interest and participation in this
pivotal instrument to support our long term planning requirements for
electricity supply.

Thank you!

Kind regards,
Angelique Kilian
PROJECT MANAGER
Tel:  +27 12 444 4369
Cell:  +27 72 473 9519

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THIS IS URGENT IF YOU WANT A SAY IN SA’S ENERGY PLAN FOR THE NEXT 20 YEARS

Dear Interested and Affected Parties YOUR INVOLVEMENT IS REQUIRED


The Department of Energy has finally issued the invitation for the much touted “broad consultation process” concerning its “IRP2” – basically the electricity / energy plan for this country for the next 20 years – a day BEFORE their deadline. This invitation arrived yesterday but that will not deter us from registering as stakeholders yet again to voice our opposition and reasons for opposition to the proposed inclusion of nuclear in the proposed energy mix for South Africa. But, WE NEED TO ACT QUICKLY.

For those who don’t know much about IRP2, there are web-links to articles on the IRP2 listed below to fill you in. But please ensure you register on the database of stakeholders ASAP for the pattern of recent times has shown that leaving it up to the next person or organisation, results in government turning its back on enlightened views to the detriment of this country’s future.

Over the past number of years we have relentlessly participated in all processes – EIAs, submissions to government or Parliament, presentations to energy regulators and policy makers, public hearings on energy policy etc only to find that pre-determined policies are riding rough-shod over democratic processes. Our petitions to the Speaker for Parliamentary debate over energy mix and nuclear policy have remained unheeded and indeed legislation enabling this lethal energy option has been Gazetted in spite of this. More recently the Energy Minister held a “nuclear stakeholders’” meeting in Cape Town to which she invited only ONE PERSON to represent the growing thousands of people in this country opposed to nuclear expansion while renewable alternative solutions remain the Cinderella option. Needless to say, his objections were dismissed and he was kicked out of the meeting.

You cannot allow the government to continue to be dismissive of whom it consults & recognise as stakeholders. Indeed the entire South African public is the biggest stakeholder!!

YOUR VOICE COUNTS. Please register! Help to drive the message that WE DO NOT WANT NUCLEAR ENERGY IN SOUTH AFRICA!

* * *

Herewith the invitation:

INVITATION TO REGISTER ON THE DATABASE OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY: IRP2

The Department of Energy hereby calls on all interested parties to register on its database of stakeholders for inclusion in the consultation process for the development of the IRP2 for Electricity 2010.

All interested residents, businesses, groups and sectors are requested to:

1.    Indicate their institution;

2.    Core business;

3.    Area of interest in the IRP;

4.    Preliminary position in their areas of interest; and

5.    Contact person/s and contact details

Interested parties are requested to submit the above-mentioned information to the office of the Director-General by the 20th April 2010. Such information may be faxed, emailed or posted.

Contact Person:

Ms Yolisa Mapekula

Department of Energy

Private Bag X 19

Arcadia

0007

Tel: 012- 444 4063

Fax: 012- 444 4505

Email: yolisa.mapekula@energy.gov.za

_____________________________________________________________________________

Some reading matter on the IRP2 and why your involvement is so important:

Cloud over power plan -Mar 19 2010

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-19-cloud-over-power-plan

Energy Department to publish IRP2 by June

http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/maqubela-2010-02-24

Inter-Ministerial Committee gives nod to IRP2 consultation plan – 31 March 2010

http://www.info.gov.za/speeches/2010/10040110051002.htm

Minister reassures business IRP2 will include broad consultation
April 7, 2010

http://www.busrep.co.za/index.php?fSectionId=552&fArticleId=5419352

Nuclear deal back on track-Mar 05 2010

http://www.mg.co.za/article/2010-03-05-nuclear-deal-back-on-track

SA outlines consultation process for 20-year energy plan

http://www.polity.org.za/print-version/sa-outlines-consultation-process-for-20-year-energy-plan-2010-04-01-1

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